To ban - or not to ban...
The Internet is a valuable resource, but it also has many pitfalls.
As an example, many students are distracted by social networking sites, while others use these sites to teach and learn.
This provides a problem for schools – to balance the positives and negatives.
Just what types of websites should be blocked within schools?
posted by Jeff Whipple at 9:12 PM
34 Comments:
Some of the most common websites that youth use in this area are: msn, youtube, and pogo. These websites are very distractive in the school environment and I think that these are the ones that should be banned in schools. Children should use the technology to learn, do research and reports. I think that all the chatting websites should be banned. Weblogs should replace that socailization time between peers through class debates or some kind of pen pal class blog.
A school is a place for learning and educational advancement so any site that focuses on socializing or frivilous entertainment should not be allowed. I'm an adult and even I have a hard time focusing on class when I have a bit of emailing to do or the latest entertainment news is flashing at me. Children are easily distracted so sites such as, myspace, Hi5, etc. should only be allowed when the child is at home and has already completed their homework and even then they should have time regulations.
i agree that there are many websites out there that are both benefical and distructive, depending on how one uses them. Just like everything else, there are pros and cons. Having said that, when we talk about restricting sites withing our schools, us professionals need to keep in mind that we are the primary caregivers of these children for up to 7 hours each and every day. I don't think that taking a chance of not restricting potentially harmful websites in hopes that students will be using them to their benefit is a good idea. We should cover our backs by find creative ways to teach our children the same stuff they could have learned on the websites. As teachers, we must keep our chains oiled anyway!! and not allow computers to strip us of all our creativity and enthusiasm.
I think that any website that has games and entertainment or communication websites such as msn messenger and other chat lines, should be blocked. Being a 26 yr old, I often find it difficult to stay on task when in this class due to being able to search the web. I can imagine a 12 yr old trying to pay attention to a teacher or a lesson being taught when the computer is right in front of them. Teachers this day and age have a hard enough time getting and keeping the attention of the students. And obviously, any kind of sexual or pornographic material should be blocked in school. Also as we talked about here about the hate or racism sites and sites like how to build your own bomb and things like that. There would be exceptions of course like a biology class, or a class that requires on-line web pals. But like with anything else, we must monitor our children in all aspects of their lives.
gail said: Social networking sites should be banned by the school system but I don't know if this is possible in some cases. I spoke to my daughter Tara about this issue since she attended high school a few years ago and she told me that they had an 'Internet Nanny' at Bonar Law School where she attended. This Nanny was charged with the responsibility of monitoring all entries and erasing all sites that were not acceptable. But the students would just download programs when they were deleted and it was business as usual. These kids were computer saavy back them and I believe that they are more so today. Cyber safety should be a top priority. I think that programs that jeopardize the safety of the students should be banned. They should also be told not to disclose any personal information about themselves and their location. They should be told to use pseudonyms or some kind of code word/nickname or number if they must identify themselves in any way. Inappropriate sites should also be banned where students can access any kind of pornograpy, violence, or other unacceptable material.
There are lots of things that should be restricted, chating, playing games that will distract the work that should be done, pretty much things that are not for learning. But there are some children that can get by the restriction somehow, so the professionals should be aware of that and always keep the kids on track. Maybe walk the class while doing work or if the students are suppose to be searching for things, that way you can monitor what the are looking at and don't let them have the time to try to get into restricted areas.
I am not so much into internet usage yet, I am very new at this but I think that all schools should have blocks in place already. Children are smart and can easily access information or share information. Most parents, I hope have a way that they can review the history of what their child are doing on the computer. I have yet to learn about this myself because I have grandchildren coming up into todays technology. My granddaughter, when she comes to visit, wants to get on the internet. She now knows how to get on the PBS and she could play for quite awhile. I need to learn how to block and keep my grandchildren safe both at school and at home.
The world wide web,is full of an abundunce of information, on any topic you probably can think of. The problem is, more and more children are starting to go onto the internet. The ignorance of parents are un willing putting thier children in danger, or exposure of un approiate things. They dont know what the internet really is. and even still parents who do go on the internet themselves and know a lil about,, may not know its full potenial. There are so many great ideas and applications on the internet and there are also so many not so great ideas and things. I think that just talking to your children openly about everything and anything, and just the concept of right and wrong, good and bad.. etc.. when they come across, one of those not so good sites. they will know what to do... EXIT!!!! I dont think all the sites should be banned. Only porn, and seriously evil, deadly, gory things,, like that site rotten.com for example!! GROSS and very distrubing!!!!!!!! I think instead of banning youtube, or piczo, etc... teachers should find a way to grasp it, and turn them into a teaching method. Chatting on hotmail, is pretty useless realy at school i think.. students can do that at home! One way or another students will be exposed to certain situations,topics, and things, that we dont think are approriate, i think the ket is,, how are they going to react to it and do in those times... we can pray and hope they will exit it out, or turn the computer off,, etc.. but i think it all boils down to how we as parents/teachers teach them and raise them.
The Internet is a valuable resource, I totally agree with you on that; but just like everything it also has many pitfalls. It really depends on the individual.
As an example, I for one of many students can be easily distracted by social networking sites, while others use these sites to teach and learn. I have to admit last night Jeff I wasn’t all there. I was busy “CHATTING”!! That is why I wasn’t so involved in the class discussion. But it goes to show that anyone can go through the school blocks, and I am very disappointed in myself b/c I think I really missed out on a very informative class. So I am apologizing to all my classmates. I also want to add that it’s already hard for some students when there are in classroom distractions whether it’s classmate talking, tapping on the desk, chewing gum but when you have a computer in front of you, you can be thousands of miles from the classroom. One can be sitting there physically but nobody’s home!!
Just what types of websites should be blocked within schools? I for one really believe that all chatting or social networking should be banned. I believe someone mentioned the importance of not revealing your true identity to anyone or even giving out one’s passwords. I have been reading that there are classrooms pen pals, how safe is that? I find that there is always someone ahead of the game they will manage to crack any protections or blocks that we think are keeping our children and students safe.
I think that the use of internet should be banned altogether in school, but I know that some students have to do research. What I don't like is the use of MSN, or other chat lines. They should be banned, and so should access to pornography, and other sites that have material we wouldn't want our kids to see. In my opinion, I think the use of internet should be at home and not in school, because there is always somebody that is smart enough to get access to restricted websites.
Mary
With the internet progressing fast, it is very hard to keep up with all social networking sites. As soon as we find our students on web pages that are not permitted in schools, we should block them. I know there are ways to go around these blockages that are put in place for security reason. I was watching one student who was on “googles” and he was on pronography page. This is how the students got on; he typed in a word and clicked images then he proceeded to look at sites. I confronted him and as soon as he knew I was watching he clicked on something else. I reported him right away to my supverisor. I then was curious as to how he managed to access such a site. So, I went on the computer he was on and did a search of my own. I quickly found out that when typing a word on google then hit images all kinds of stuff will show up even if it is restricted. Just imagine the kind of stuff our children are watching, when we are not home to properly monitor them. We may have parental control but they are smart and they know how to deceive us.
I think our District School Board is doing a good job at keeping up with restriction. Just keep up the monitoring and block all sites that are distracting students. We may never catch all sites but monitoring them is a good way of restricting web sites
There are definetly pros and cons when the use of internet is permitted in our schools. I believe that the internet is a great source of information for students to do research and projects but most times students try to access social networking sites such as Utube, Imvu, and Club Penguin. Students
should not be allowed on these types of sites just because they are not safe. Although schools have placed restrictions on these types sites students are always finding ways to get into those restricted sites. We had a student access some restricted sites in our school, so I guess if we allow students to access the internet, than they should be monitored very closely.
The above comment is mine Cathy.
Nicole S said...
I definitly think that we should block social networking sites from schools. Many students are distracted when it comes to these types of websites. Msn messenger, club penguin, and youtube just to name some, are not needed in schools. Also I think schools should monitor the children closely and make the websites the children go on are authentic.
The internet is too much of a valuable tool and is a necessity in today's learning environment to even consider banning the use of computers in schools. Sure they can be distracting but it is up to us to manage our classroom the best that we know how and when it's computer time, computer safety should be our first priority. Again, some sites can provide us with so much information in which can be very useful and are closely related to the lesson...
However, I don't see any harm in filtering some of the sites that are not suitable for all,example chatting...What could they possibly get out of this. God knows they do enough of that at home and at school for that matter.
yes I realize there is both positives and negatives on the internet. But,
personally I don't feel we as future educators should filter every website that unacceptable in School. How will they every learn what is appropriate and what is not if we don't teach them. By simply educating them early on the pros and cons of certain websites, the better. I feel they should take full advantage of the computer and all the things it can do. And by teaching them at home on the safety and the uses of the computer. I think we should be alright.
I think the only types of websites that should be blocked from schools should be an pornography types of sites, or like... "chat rooms". The social networking sites such as my space, face book, etc. are being blocked and students cant access these sites from school but theres ways for students to go around that and have access. There shouldn't be concern unless u as a teacher, know of a student abusing their computer privileges and the student knows their doing something wrong. All the sites that they visit are probably the ones they normally visit from their home computer. Maybe teachers should send more of a detailed permission slip home and ask for the parents permission if the students want to visit websites such as my space. Parents need to be involved in the whats right, whats wrong process when considering students using/visiting websites from school.
I think that the only websites that should be banned from schools should be Yahoo,MSN chatlines, and pornography sites.I think the principals and teachers should monitor the children when they are on line.The children need to use the computers to do research on their projects at school. They could set up rules and regulations and maybe get them to sign a contract saying that they will obey all the rules when they are on line . But it is the parents responsibility to monitor their children when the kids are st home on the computer.
i think that the chat lines should be blocked and the porno sites because students will look for those stuff. i think that any kind of chat should be blocked because students would be working on what they are suposto do. like there reasearch and stuff like that. and its the teachers responsibilitys to see what the students are doing and where there going on these sites.
I believe that the internet is a valuable resource and can become very useful when coming to do assisnments. getting information,photos,ect. When it comes to blocking websites..within the schools,and which sites should be blocked. I think it will be very hard to block every site! cuz there's just so much information, you still may comes across sites that are still inappropriate, according to words used. if a site does appear inappropriate the students are taught what to do is to tell the teacher right away and click back. The districts has put policies in place to help protect students and has put privacy and sucurity settings in place as well where they can monitor where students visited, some restricted sites are the chatting sites like msn,yahoo,piczo,bebo,myspace.com. i think the chatting sites like msn, yahoo, where you are constantly chatting and not really learning anything, It is appropriate to block within the schools, but when it comes to students creating their own sites, or spaces well i believe it is part of creating something on their own and that is part of learning,and something they can be proud of..then i dont think those sites should be blocked, but with privacy and sucurity settings in place for them. at the same time administrators teachers and other educators should start creating lesson plans using these sites,in their planning. its a good way to get to know their students one on one. and a good way to start a portfolio started for each and everyone of yours students.
Hi, I'm not sure if they should be completely blocked and banned, like YouTube, or simply only accessed by the teachers when used as a teaching tool? Chatrooms should only be used at home, because really those are not only distracting, there is no parental guidance over them if they are on the chatlines at school. Let me see, there are so many sites out there, there is Piczo, there is MySpace, there is MSN, and a bunch of other websites. I agree also with the fact, that if it is something that the kids created themselves, like their own little website, or their own space, or blog, let them work on it, either during freetime, or as a class project. It completely gives them a sense of pride. I know my cousin has a pretty neat website of his own, and he's very proud of it, I'm forever signing it, when new things come up on it. I understand how they feel about their creations. Essentially that is a work of art too! I tend to agree with Jeff's comment about how some of these "banned sites" could actually be used as teaching tools, of course provided that they are monitored and that the teacher is in charge of HOW it is used. Teachers show good examples of how to appropriately use websites, so the kids will learn by example that this is HOW to use them in school. But then again, there are just somethings that just shouldn't be permitted AT ALL.
kellysock@Yes internet is useful and valuable resource for schools, I do believe social networking (chat Line) should be banned for the classroom. I can't really say to banned games or the internet because these are reasons why computers are in school, alot of games are being used as educational tools and so is the internet. It’s up to the teacher to make her curriculum fun, interesting and to have resource (activities) available at the drop of a dime to prevent the student in wondering off. Webquest is a fun and exciting way of teaching just taken the extra time to use this tool; her class should have a ball learning.
There obviously has been a number of sites that have been blocked from our schools and for good reason, instant messaging or non-educational chat sites, non-educational games, places where you can download music and the most obvious porn sites.
There was a lot of talk about filtering on Thursday nights class but, whether we like it or not, there has been filters placed in our schools to protect our students in the classroom environment. This is very important especially at the Elementary School level. I found the article Blogging: Shift of control by Alan November to be very interesting and he makes a good point about using the medium to teach students.
I checked out the sight www.novemberlearning.com/blogs.alannovember. The census was the same, there needs to be a course about teaching ethics and proper etiquette on-line to our students because they do have their own "spaces", etc...So, it is imperative that this is taught to our students regardless of the fact that we can not actually show them examples of this on-line because these sights are blocked. But, I would bet if you were to pose this question to a student they would have plenty of stories to tell you of what they have experienced on-line. This is a teachers oppurtunity to establish lines of communication and an oppurtunity to address these types of issues.
I feel like a broken record. Certain internet sites in the school system should obviously not be allowed. Interactive ones geared towards education are the ideal, but there are obviously those chatlines, or personal websites, messengers,and gamesites amongst other things that are still allowed to be used in the school. Although not necessarily during classtime, unless the teacher is vigilant enough to monitor all students, they are getting on them anyway. It's easy to turn off volume or minimize a window when someone is near, to hide that a person is on it. For these ways, it's also easy to hide what website a person is looking through. Thankfully, there are security setting controls set up to monitor what is allowed to be viewed, and what is not, but even those controls can be quite lax or the student is bright enough to maneuvour around it (I've seen this one done before). Online safety needs to be taught yes, but it also needs to be enforced, both in school and at home. What isn't appropriate for one has to be for all. And while parents need to be included at home and in school, you have to ask the question - will they bother to try to keep up work done at school when at home?
The thing is with Kids though is that the more you prevent them from doing something, the more they want to do it. So it's a case of picking battles that depend wholeheartedly on the result that you want. Is the IMing that much of a problem if it keeps them from surfing the net that keeps them from potentially dangerous information? But then, minimizing the use of IM can keep them away from dangerous people, but can the increases exposure to sites that can influence or harm the children increase? It's a tough choice, and one that cannot be easily remedied.
But as mentioned before, the internet is a valuable resource for a multitude of information that the student and teacher can use to teach a subject effectively. It's enough to say that every school should have internet access, and viable access as well (hello.. high speed anyone!). So we just have to either pre-monitor a number of websites appropriate for the student and give them that list from which to do research from (yes, that means more work, but why bother wanting to be a teacher if you do not resign to the fact that teaching is a lot of work!) or we have to have tools set up in which we can cut off inappropriate website access (kind of like that pc monitoring station one of the other ladies mentioned as part of her presentation). Teaching them valuable researching techniques can also help. The tools mentioned in class to search out valid website authors, sources, etc. is something to expose the children to.
All said, we have to constantly monitor student browsing. In a time when new information is always being added, though not necessarily being policed, we as educators need to be more aware. We need to be active in being one step ahead of the student, which means we have to learn this technological information, and network to keep each other up to date in the process as well.
At the school I work at, the most common websites children are asking to go on or talking about are msn, piczo or youtube. I think these websites are a distraction for kids and sometimes become a bully spot. I believe these sites should be blocked within schools so that teachers or t.a's don't have to constantly monitor children while they are on the computers.
I think that the websites that should be blocked are the ones that are not suitable for the children such as pornography and chat rooms. I think chat rooms and places like myspace should be left for the children to go on at home were they can be supervised by the parents and they can deal with whether or not they should be allowed on there. There is not enough people in the school systems that can watch everything these kids do.
I believe that chatting and pornography should be the only websites banned from schools. I believe that they should be banned from homes too. If it were up to me there wouldn't be any of these sites on the net in the first place. Personally I don't chat and definitely don't look at pornography and don't see the pleasure of it. Chatting maybe because at least you are not running up the phone bill when you are talking to people from elsewhere. Chat rooms might be a good place for networking but that's why there's the e-mail. I would just try to keep a close eye on any child on the internet just like I would a child in a mall.
no websites should be band because of the fact that every website teaches us something.If we block everything then we learn nothing. It is up to the teacher on how the students can learn or how they will be effected by any website. It all comes back to what the teacher does with the information and how it is given to the students.
There is no question as to which web sites should be blocked within schools. Obviously the inappropriate site would be targeted, at least the ones known to the teachers, parents and school boards. But the question is, what about the web sites that are created everyday. There are so many that are created that its almost impossible to keep up. Although what most schools do from my understanding is have history recorded, and do a basic scan of the sites visited. This is why they have log-in ids for the students and teachers. Maybe this is something that I was told, that isnt entirely true. But needless to say that it should be done, maybe it might take up too much time and money but how far are we willing to go to prevent our children/ students from accessing these elicit web sites.
I think that the only sites that should be banned are those that are not conducive to educational learning in a classroom. If we are going to use computers and the internet in the schools, we must prepare students to know what is appropriate and what is not and if they happen to come upon an inappopriate site, how to deal with it. There are ways to filter information and block sites but this can not always be avoided, therefore, students will need to taught about the appropriate use of the computer in the classroom. It basically comes down to responsibility, appropriateness and common sense.
To balance positive and negatives, i feel that chatting and porno sites should be blocked in out school, which they are. The world wide wed in a vulnerable learning tool, but of course there is a pro and con to it. I think each teacher should have a history emailed to her each class to see if any student was in a site where she/he was not support to be. We must build trust with our students after we have taught then about computer safety and where they are not allowed.
After reading the two chapters, they is alot of read/write information how children, students and even parents benefit in blogs. very interesting book.
There are indeed pros and cons within the limitations of school computer usage. While the internet is jammed packed with educational websites, children cannot help but browse other sites. Sites that should be restricted include: chats, games(except educational games of course), and of course the "adult" type sites.
I think that social networks are very distracting, it's the same as talking in class. I don't know how msn messenger helps teach students in class. so i think that this website should be blocked in schools. even at my age it's very distracting. I've also come across the club penguin website, just because it's about socializing i think it should be blocked at schools also.
I think that social networking is distrating and should be very limited if needed. Any kind of adult content or non educational should also be blocked all together in schools.
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